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The Three Musketeers
Twenty Years Later
The Vicomte De Bragelonne
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Twenty Years Later 8 at Prostate Health
not a muscle of whose face was stirred, either
at Mazarins witticisms or by the jests of the multitude --
seemed to the cardinal a peculiar being, who, having
participated in past events similar to those now occurring,
was calculated to cope with those now on the eve of taking
place.
The name of DArtagnan was not altogether new to Mazarin,
who, although he did not arrive in France before the year
1634 or 1635, that is to say, about eight or nine years
after the events which we have related in a preceding
narrative,* fancied he had heard it pronounced as that of
one who was said to be a model of courage, address and
loyalty.
* "The Three Musketeers."
Possessed by this idea, the cardinal resolved to know all
about DArtagnan immediately; of course he could not inquire
from DArtagnan himself who he was and what had been his
career; he remarked, however, in the course of conversation
that the lieutenant of musketeers spoke with a Gascon
accent. Now the Italians and the Gascons are too much alike
and know each other too well ever to trust what any one of
them may say of himself; so in reaching the walls which
surrounded the Palais Royal, the cardinal knocked at a
little door, and after thanking DArtagnan and requesting
him to wait in the court of the Palais Royal, he made a sign
to Guitant to follow him.
They both dismounted, consigned their horses to the lackey
who had opened the door, and disappeared in the garden.
"My dear friend," said the cardinal, leaning, as they walked
through the garden, on his friends arm, "you told me just
now that you had been twenty years in the queens service."
"Yes, its true. I have," returned Guitant.
"Now, my dear Guitant, I have often remarked that in
addition to your courage, which is indisputable, and your
fidelity, which is invincible, you possess an admirable
memory."
"You have found that out, have you, my lord? Deuce take it
-- all the worse for me!"
"How?"
"There is no doubt but that one of the chief accomplishments
of a courtier is to know when to forget."
"But you, Guitant, are not a courtier. You are a brave
soldier, one of the few remaining veterans of the days of
Henry IV. Alas! how few to-day exist!"
"Plague ont, my lord, have you brought me here to get my
horoscope out of me?"
"No; I only brought you here to ask you," returned Mazarin,
smiling, "if you have taken any particular notice of our
lieutenant of musketeers?"
"Monsieur dArtagnan? I have had no occasion to notice him
particularly; hes an old acquaintance. Hes a Gascon. De
Treville knows him and esteems him very highly, and De
Treville, as you know, is one of the queens greatest
friends. As a soldier the man ranks well; he did his whole
duty and even more, at the siege of Rochelle -- as at Suze
and Perpignan."
"But you know, Guitant, we poor ministers often want men
with other qualities besides courage; we want men of talent.
Pray, was not Monsieur dArtagnan, in the time of the
cardinal, mixed up in some intrigue from which he came out,
according to report, quite cleverly?"
"My lord, as to the report you allude to" -- Guitant
perceived that the cardinal wished to make him speak out --
"I know nothing but what the public knows. I never meddle in
intrigues, and if I occasionally become a confidant of the
intrigues of others I am sure your eminence will approve of
my keeping them secret."
Mazarin shook his head.
"Ah!" he said; "some ministers are fortunate and find out
all that they wish to know."
"My lord," replied Guitant, "such ministers do not weigh men
in the same balance; they get their information on war from
warriors; on intrigues, from intriguers. Consult some
politician of the period of which you speak, and if you pay
well for it you will certainly get to know all you want."
"Eh, pardieu!" said Mazarin, with a grimace which he always
made when spoken to about money. "They will be paid, if
there is no way of getting out of it."
"Does my lord seriously wish me to name any one who was
mixed up in the cabals of that day?"
"By Bacchus!" rejoined Mazarin, impatiently, "its about an
hour since I asked you for that very thing, wooden-head that
you are."
"There is one man for whom I can answer, if he will speak
out."
"Thats my concern; I will make him speak."
"Ah, my lord, tis not easy to make people say what they
dont wish to let out."
"Pooh!
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